Oregon Coast Reunion

I love the Oregon Coast, cold, wind, and all. Our family has done Oregon coast every other year for my whole life, so it holds a special place in my heart. The last few years I haven't been able to go because of school work, and the cost of airfare, but this year I decided nothing was going to stop me.

I decided it was time for some blackberry cobbler, my favorite, so I rounded up all the boys that would come and we went and found some bushes on the side of the road. We picked enough blackberries in a half hour to make cobbler twice a day all week!

The sandcastle contest was actually a big deal this year, as opposed to the past when nobody really took it seriously. This year grandma and grandpa actually chose a winner with and actual prize! We all got our competition on and after many odd and half baked plans, we ended up choosing the shark theme last minute. The original plan was to cover Emily and a kitchen chair with syrup and roll them both in the sand and pose.. Well anyways, the picture above doesn't even show the full production. We also made a tail coming our the back, and the whole area surrounding had shark fins, and if you can't tell that's a broken bogey board in his mouth. We even found a red jellyfish and put it in the mouth to make it gory. Around the bottom we wrote RIP UNCLE TY, which might explain why a certain judge didn't favor is in the rankings.. but even though we didn't win first place we knew in our hearts that ours was our favorite, and had the most teamwork and effort put into it. I know I'm biased but regardless I really think ours should have won. We decided to have a victory dinner at Moe's anyway

The cousin Olympics were so fun this year too. I can't think of a year when we've done anything like it. I have to say I  wasn't too keen on our team at first when I was the only one there to start, but once the rest came we really picked up! I was particularly impressed with my family's athletic ability. In the single race Ben won by a long shot, but in the family relays where the overall ability shines, we won first! Kenny and Kyle are super fast and I am impressed with Emily, who ran way faster than a girl who doesn't play sports should. I wasn't too shabby myself either. 

Garrett wasn't able to go tragically because he doesn't have my work schedule flexibility, so I went by myself, which ended up being ok cause Leisha was single for the week too. 

The lighthouse and tillamook were our standard every year experience of course. I still haven't seen any whales at the lookout. I don't think I ever will.